Back at HQ, the command center was getting a glimpse of what they were up against.
This particular Angel looked like a cross between a centipede and a snake.
"This one sure is ugly" Quips the 2nd Lieutenant as he takes a sip at his coffee mug.
"Are all civilians evacuated?" Captain Whitehall inquired as she analyzes the room.
"All reports say otherwise," Replied the 3rd Lieutenant. "Third and First Child are on their way to base".
"Good to know" Deputy Commander Chandler assures the team as he walks in.
"Deputy Commander?" Captain Whitehall looked surprised as he came in.
"Commander Langford is currently at a meeting with the UN Security Council" He explains while observing the monitor. "I will be in charge of monitoring for today".
The monitors display the Angel crawling its way to the city. Its dark purple skin is surrounded by legs and 4 long tentacles that squirm along as it moves. It started to act and feel like an alien parasite.
Within the city, tanks, missile trucks, and VTOL aircraft began to take charge of attacking the Angel.
"The US Armed Forces?" 1st Lieutenant questions as he monitors the situation. "Don't they realize how ineffective their weapons are against them?!"
"They're wasting tax money" Commander Chandler simply comments. "It seems that the army is just unable to accept that a threat like this cannot be put down by their arms".
"They'll just stall time for us to prepare" Captain Whitehall assures them.
Meanwhile...
At one of the Geo Shelters, Ramon, Zoe, and Wesley are sitting down. The three of them wait in silence while the rest of the civilians worry and argue.
"This better end soon" Zoe worries.
"Yeah, well I'm sure that new kid is going to take care of it" Ramon shrugs off.
"You sure about that? Because I doubt it after that shake-up you threw at her" Marty brings up While playing with his camera.
"You did what?! Ramon!" Shouts Zoe as she punches him in the arm.
"Hey! She had it coming!" He objects.
"So if I did something to your brother, you would hit me too?" She clammers him.
"What?! No! Why would I-
"Even if I was a girl?" She adds.
As Ramon struggles to come up with words, Loud blasts, and tremors can be heard from outside.
"The Angel" Gasps Wesley looking up. "It's here".
In a matter of minutes, the Angel took down all of the military's vehicles. The amount of firepower had little to no impact in stopping the creature.
"Well that went well" Quipped the 2nd Lieutenant.
"Captain, Third Child is already for launch" The 3rd lieutenant informs them.
"Erika, you ready?" asks Captain Whitehall.
"Ready" the Third Child responds with confidence.
"Deploy Unit-02!" Orders the Captain.
Popping from one of the docking hangars from the complex, Evangelion Unit-02 launches, released from its docks.
Erika drove the Eva towards the battlefield. The Angel had already torn down the armed forces' defenses, leaving a few retreating VTOL aircraft fleeing at a distance.
"Relax, just focus on the target" Erika begins telling herself. 'It's just like practice".
"Weapon Station 1 is released" She hears the 3rd Lieutenant announce from the intercom.
A building then pulls out from the city, revealing an assault rifle rack inside it.
Erika then pulls out a rifle from it.
"Lock and Loaded" She announces.
The Angel then began to stand erect, like a cobra in attack position.
It hissed from its skull-like head toward Unit-02 as it approached it.
"Let's see how strong that A.T. Field of yours is!" Erika exclaims.
She began firing at it nonstop.
"Erika! You creating smoke, we can't see the target!" Orders the captain.
"What is she doing?" asks the Deputy Commander.
"I think she's trying to break the A.T. Field" 1st Lieutenant comments.
Back at the Geo-Shelter...
Wesley cautiously looked around the shelter, holding his camera firmly.
"Psst" he calls out to Ramon.
He was squatting on the ground when he heard his friend call to him.
"What?" He mutters back.
"Follow me" he waves.
"Where are you two going?" Zoe questions them.
"I uh need Ramon to accompany me to the bathroom" Wesley makes up. "We'll be right back!".
They run off to one of the restrooms inside the shelter, where Wesley divulges his idea to Ramon.
"Are you crazy?!" Ramon whispers. "Why would you want to do that?!".
"When will we ever see another giant monster battle ever?" Wesley begins proposing. "First account, live footage, and content at our disposal!"
"We're high schoolers, not some freaking news channel, Wes!" Ramon began to argue.
"Come on, man." He begs. "We won't even be that close, I promise".
Ramon just sighs upon his friend's request.
At the Battle...
The amount of shots fired has created a smokescreen between Unit-02 and the Angel. Realizing how much smoke she's created, Erika stops pulling the trigger.
"Did I break it?" The Third Child wonders as the sound of silence simmers along the smoke.
Suddenly, a whip made of pure neon pink light lashed toward her. She falls back in response.
"It's still alive!" Yelled Erika. "And its A.T. field is still up!".
"Quick, grab another rifle from the rack!" Susan orders.
Unit-02 ran grabbed a rifle and ran away from the Angel. Erika began shooting again until its whips lashed at her, this time grabbing a hold of her hand.
Its glowing tentacle whip then began to fire an electric discharge so powerful that it starts messing with the controls.
"Damn it" Erika mutters in pain as the feels the shocks go to her left arm.
The monster then pounced at her, attempting to spit acid at her face.
"Let go!" Erika yelled as Unit-02 was grasping at its whips.
The angel then slammed her toward one of the mountains near the city. Like a snake, it coils around Unit-02, with its centipede-like legs attempting to pierce through the armor.
"Erika, Get up!" The captain shouted as she saw the angel crawling all over the Eva.
"I'm trying! The Angel just... won't... budge!" She struggles to say as she tries to free her legs.
The tentacle whips suddenly split into four.
"Captain, there's two other signals of life located near unit-02!" Yells 1st lieutenant.
"Indentify them, Lieutenant" Orders Deputy Commander Chandler.
The computers then began to identify the other life signals. The monitors zoom in on the location of the battle.
Around the hills, a heat signal monitor picks up two small signatures, while another one captures a full-life visual of them.
On the larger screens, the signals are then revealed to be two high school boys.
"They're two teenagers" 3rd Lieutenant comments.
"Who are they?" Questions the Captain.
"Ramon Guiterrez and Wesley Chiang" the 2nd Lieutenant explained. "They attend Claremont Academy".
"Claremont...they're from Erika's School!" Susan exclaims in shock.
Back at the battle, Erika continues to struggle against the Angel. Its four whips wrapped all around her arms, sending electroshocks to them.
The creature spewed another acid attack, this time damaging the right pylon.
"Get...OFF!"
With one jab to the skull, she knocks out the Angel away from her. She manages to take a glimpse of where Angel's red core is located, right in the center of its body.
The creature crawls around to fix its position.
A red light suddenly starts flashing on her monitor.
"What now?"
"Erika, one of your batteries is damaged" The Captain explains. "You need to finish that Angel now before you run out of power. Also, you got another thing to worry about".
On the monitor, an image from around the site is displayed. It's Wesley and Ramon, cowering in fear.
"What are they doing here?!" The Third Child exclaims. "They're gonna get killed!".
"Get them away from the zone as far as possible" Captain Whitehall orders her.
Unit-02's right pylon suddenly ejects the battery. A timer then appears both in Erika's monitor and HQ's.
"Battery energy depleting" announced the screen inside the entry plug. "Internal battery has 5:00 minutes remaining".
"Just great!" Muttered Erika.
She then turns on the external speakers on the Eva.
Looking down at them, she pulls out her hand towards her two classmates.
"Hey, you two!" Erika exclaims through the speakers. "Get inside! Now!".
Her entry plugs then ejects, opening its door hatch.
At HQ...
Dr. Ackerman then walked up to the command center.
"What the hell is she doing?!" She questions Whitehall.
"I ordered her to get those kids out there" The Captain explains.
"By having them enter inside the Eva?" She brings up. "They'll interfere with the interface?".
"She just has to get them out of there" Captain Whitehall assures her.
At the Battle...
The boys were inside the cockpit of the Evangelion.
"Woah, this is cool," Wesley says as gazes at the monitor.
Erika tries to maintain calm as she looks are her timer and back at the Angel.
Its eyes were now locked back at her. From her left pylon, she pulls out her progressive knife, standing her ground against the Angel.
the angel hisses as its tentacles extend like wings.
"4:05 remaining".
"It's going to attack..." Ran her thoughts upon making eye contact.
"Erika!" She hears the Captain order her. "Get out of the battlefield NOW! Get the civilians out of there!".
"Don't run away" Erika repeats to herself."Don't run away, Don't run away, Don't-
"3:30 remaining".
"What are you waiting for!" Ramon yells in desperation. "Let's get out of here!"
"Don't run away" She continues. "JUST DON'T!".
Erika then screams in rage, charging toward the angel. The whips wrapped around her arms and pulled the Eva towards it.
Ramon and Wesley panic in unison just as they feel the rush and abrasive movement of Unit-02 attack the Angel.
"2:00 remaining".
With the progressive knife, Unit-02 rips through the A.T. Field like a curtain. The knife then reaches toward the core.
Protected by a rib cage, the Eva starts puncturing through it like an ice pick until the core is left exposed.
"1:14 remaining".
Erika rages towards the Angel, stabbing it nonstop. the pain from the whip's shocks no longer bothered her as she kept pushing toward the monster.
"0:30 remaining"
Sparks fly off as the blade drives into the core. sensing the contact, the angel tries to pull one last attack.
The acid begins to spew from its mouth while Erika just keeps pushing deeper.
"10, 9, 8, 7-
Cracks form as the knife punctures the shell. With all her strength, Erika has Unit-02 twist the blade as it goes it brakes into the core.
"6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1".
The Angel's tentacles suddenly stopped moving, losing their neon pink light. The creature then falls on its back, while Unit-02 stood still, holding onto its progressive knife.
At the blade of the knife was the Angel's core, ripped from the inside of the body.
All of Unit-02 was covered in blue blood, the blood of the Angels.
"The angel is down" announced 1st lieutenant. "I repeat, the angel is down. Unit-02 has ceased all operations".
Inside the cockpit, Erika held onto her controls tightly, almost out of breath, sweating nonstop.
"Erika Langford" Captain Whitehall's voice boomed across the cockpit. "As soon as you get back to HQ, we need to talk".
Erika sighed and fell towards the cockpit.
"I can't" she mutters in exhaustion. "I just can't damn it".
Her hands run through her hair, all tense and shaking while Ramon and Wesley just stand there and watch.
Erika had just saved their lives and it wasn't as easy as they thought it would be.